2012 Football League Championship play-off Final

This was Blackpool's first appearance in the second tier play-off final, although they had beaten Yeovil Town at Wembley in the third-tier 2007 Football League One play-off Final.[7][8] West Ham also had play-off final experience having lost the 2004 Football League First Division play-off Final against Crystal Palace but winning the following season's play-off final against Preston North End.[7] During the regular season, West Ham dominated Blackpool, winning 4–0 at the Boleyn Ground in October 2011, and 4–1 at Bloomfield Road the following February.[9] West Ham's Vaz Tê was the division's top scorer, with 22 goals to his name, including 10 while he was at Barnsley earlier in the season. Blackpool's top scorer was Kevin Phillips who netted 16 times during the regular season.[10] The referee for the final was Howard Webb, with assistant referees Peter Kirkup and Mike Mullarkey, and Kevin Friend acted as the fourth official.[11]

Blackpool went into the final without Gary Taylor-Fletcher whose injury during training prevented him from taking part.[12] During Blackpool's regular season, he had contributed ten assists and eight goals;[13][14] Phillips started in his place, and Czech striker Roman Bednář was named amongst the substitutes.[15][16] West Ham's Collinson was cleared to play, despite suffering a dislocated shoulder in the play-off semi-finals.[15]

West Ham United kicked the game off around 3 p.m. in front of a Wembley crowd of 78,523.[17] Almost immediately, the first chance fell to West Ham's Carlton Cole but Nolan's pass was too long and was picked up by the Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks. At the other end, a mistake from Matthew Taylor allowed Dobbie to shoot but it was blocked by Green onto the post. Another chance for Blackpool came in the 14th minute: Matt Phillips was played in by Dobbie but he shot straight at Green who saved once again. Four minutes later, Vaz Tê's shot hits the side netting after a pass from Mark Noble. Collison’s shot then sailed high and wide of Blackpool's goal. On the half-hour mark, a series of four consecutive corners for West Ham came to nothing, but in the 34th minute the deadlock was broken. Taylor made a cross-field pass to Cole who took one touch to control the ball before shooting past Gilks to make the score 1–0. Another shot went wide from Vaz Tê three minutes later, and after one minute of stoppage time, the half was brought to an end with West Ham leading by the single goal.[15][16]

Two minutes into the second half, Ince scored the equaliser for Blackpool. Cole lost the ball near the half-way line and a Matt Phillips pass over Winston Reid fell to Ince whose first-time strike beat Green in the West Ham goal. Kevin Phillips then played Alex Baptiste in and his lob over Green was cleared off the line by Taylor. In the 54th minute, West Ham made the first substitution of the afternoon, with George McCartney coming on to replace Gary O'Neil. Shortly after, Guy Demel was injured and was replaced by Julien Faubert. Taylor's cross was then headed high over the Blackpool bar by Collison. Vaz Tê's weak attempt was then cleared by Taylor before Gilks was forced to save a shot on the turn from Cole. In the 66th minutes, Dobbie's shot from the centre of the penalty area went wide, before Noble made a goal-line clearance to Baptiste, who struck the ball over the bar. Blackpool made their first substitution on 71 minutes, with Ludovic Sylvestre coming on to replace Kevin Phillips, and began to dominate possession. Green saved another Dobbie shot before West Ham's Nolan's volley struck the bar after Gilks' fingertip save. With three minutes to go Nolan passed to Cole who rode a challenge and collided with Gilks. Vaz Tê picked up the loose ball and hit it into the roof of the Blackpool goal, making it 2–1 to the London club. In the final minute of regular time, Dobbie and Ángel Martínez were replaced by Nouha Dicko and Bednář. Four minutes of injury time followed but with no change to the score, and West Ham were promoted back to the Premier League, one season after they were relegated.[15][16]